Beta Planet: Rise (42 page)

They continued around the room until they were finally face to face with a sliding door of the largest room in the structure. They looked at each other and nodded and stepped up to the door as it slid open.

“Wow!”

Inside the large, semicircular room there were holographic images all the way around the outer area. In the center of the room was a floating hologram of Earth, similar to the one they saw at the MOOH, except that this one had red and blue dots scattered all over it.

“What are those?” Geon asked, to no one specifically.

“I don’t know but we don’t have much time. I’ve set my cuff to monitor any activity outside this room, so if someone comes here, we won’t have much time to get out!”

“Okay, Ally, what do you need?” Geon said.

“I need to find a port,” Allea said. “It must be somewhere in here. Wireless transfer of information will be blocked here because of security. So the only way to get what we need is to find a physical input and hardwire in with the security override program.”

“Okay, guys,” Sabien said. “Everyone split up and search for this port!”

“It’s probably going to be protected,” Allea said, dashing around the room and looking high and low for anything that could be it.

Geon scrambled around focusing only on trying to find an input. He desperately wanted to stop and look at the images around the room and see what CARE was up to, but knew they might not have much time to spare, and couldn’t risk getting caught.

“Is this it?” Kumuki squealed from the side of the room. Allea dashed over to him but shook her head and told him no, saying it was just a button for something.

“Guys, over here!” Aurora loudly whispered from the other side of the room. They all rushed over and saw a large black monolith standing in front of them. On the front of it were numerous blue blinking lights, and it was housed behind a wall of metal slats.

“That’s it,” Allea said. “That’s the brain!”

“I think I see the port,” Sabien said, crouching down and peering through the slats. “Is that it?”

“Yes, I think so,” Allea replied, pulling out a multi-tip wire from her suit and plugging one end into her LifeCuff. “Okay, we need to get the door open so I can get in there.”

Sabien and Geon simultaneously grabbed the solid heavy door and pulled, but nothing happened.

Oh no.

“Pull harder!”

They pulled again, this time with the help of Kumuki, but the door wouldn’t budge.

“It’s locked solid!” Geon said, grabbing his hair with both his hands in frustration.

They pulled again and again but nothing happened.

“How do we open this, Ally? Is it biometric? Try the hair!”

Allea grabbed the tube with the hair and tried placing it near the door of the large rectangular device, but nothing happened.

“I don’t know,” she cried out, looking flustered herself. “We don’t have time to figure this out! I think I might be able to get my arm through the slats. Hold on.”

She crouched down to where the port was and slid her petite hand through the slats, it barely fit and she had to push to get her knuckles through. As she pushed her hand back toward the face with the blinking lights and port, the slats jabbed her in the forearm, stopping her about six inches short of reaching it. She pushed and pushed but her eyes began to tear up from the pain of the jagged metal cutting against her skin.

“I can’t do it,” she said. “It’s too far!”

“Let me try,” Aurora said, sticking her arm in but getting even less far than Allea. Sabien made a half-hearted effort but was unable to even get his hand through the slats and Kumuki also tried but was stopped short at his forearm as well.

I can do this,
Geon thought to himself, pushing his right hand through the slats and wincing in pain as the metal scraped against his forearm as well.

It’s too far. It can’t be done.

“Oh no,” Allea said, looking down at her cuff, her eyes bulging with fear. “Guys, I see activity in the premises. I think someone might be approaching this structure on one of those transport bubbles. We’re running out of time!”

This can’t be. We’ve come so far and are so close to discovering all the mysteries about CARE and we’re going to fail. We can’t fail!

Geon pushed harder still, and his arm was suddenly cut by the metal, small drops of blood dripping down from it.

“G, you can’t do it! Forget it, we need to go!”

No. No! I won’t let this happen,
he thought to himself, looking down at his other arm.
This is why I’m here.

“Wait!” Geon yelled. “I can do it!”

He pulled his right arm out, grabbed the wire from Allea with his left arm, and shoved it through the slats with furious abandon. It too got stuck on his forearm, but this time, he pushed and pushed as hard as he could, grabbing the entire cage with his other arm and pulling toward it with all his might.

“AGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!”

Geon howled out from the pain as the metal from the slats and nano-skin from his bio-limb pressed against each other in a battle of tension. The skin shredded apart from his arm, unable to take any more pressure.

“OH MY GOD!”

“GEON!!!”

“ARE YOU OKAY?”

“NOOOOOO!”

Geon kept pushing, ignoring the pain shooting up his arm. It hurt to push, but in a different way from his other arm. The skin peeled back further still, exposing the alloy limb beneath it.

“Oh my God,” Allea cried out, tears falling down her face. “Geon, please stop! PLEASE! IT’S NOT WORTH IT!”

“NO, ALLY! One more second. I’m almost therrrrrrre… YES!”

He pushed forward one more fraction of an inch and pushed the tip of the wire into the port.

“It’s in! Ally, DO IT!”

Allea quickly brushed away the tears from her eyes and furiously tapped away on her LifeCuff.

“I’m in! Downloading the info now.”

“Guys we’re going to have to run,” Sabien said, peering out of the doorway. Whoever it is, I think they’re almost here.”

“Five more seconds,” Allea said, staring at her screen and tapping the ground with her second.

“Four… three… two… one!”

“LET’S GO!” Sabien shouted as he tried to help pull Geon out. His arm was still stuck between the slats and the two of them pulled harder and harder. Finally, with all their might, they heaved their bodies backward and pulled Geon out, the skin from his limb ripping completely off in the process.

“NO! MY LIFECUFF!”

Sabien looked down and saw that Geon’s LifeCuff had ripped off as well, and was now sitting at the bottom of the device, behind the slats, and once again out of reach.

“GEON, FORGET IT!” Allea shouted. “WE DON’T HAVE TIME!”

“If I leave it they’ll know I was here!” Geon screamed back, trying again to reach in and grab it.

“They’ll know anyway! FORGET IT. WE NEED TO RUN!”

Oh my God. We’re going to be caught… all because of me.

The others got up and ran toward the door and Sabien finally grabbed Geon and pulled him up as well.

“It’s gone, brother. We need to go.
Now
.”

Geon nodded and they took off running toward the tube.

“Everyone in,” Allea said, tapping the button and sending the platform down the clear tube. As they made their way out of the structure and down into the dark of the night, they could now clearly see there was a pod approaching the building with CARE members in it.

“Oh my God, they’re getting onto the platform!”

“What do we do what do we do what do we do?”

Allea looked up at Geon and Sabien and shook her head.

“It’s the only way,” she said.

What’s the only way?

“Zeppwings. Geon, Sabien, when you hit the ground, you run for the edge of the roof and you jump. Jump as high and as far as you can. Just as you jump, hit the button on the left right here,” she said pointing to Geon’s chest. “When you get close to the ground, then hit the other button. Got it?”

WHAT?

“WHAT? You want us to JUMP?” Geon exclaimed, suddenly terrified.

“Trust me, G. You’ll be okay. Kumuki, you and Aurora follow me. We need to scatter.”

Sabien looked at Geon just before the platform hit the ground. “G,” he said with a smile. “Race you to the ground.”

Oh my God. Everyone has gone insane.

As soon as the door opened, they five of them took off running toward the edge of the building. It seemed to be happening so fast, and yet somehow, it seemed to be happening in slow motion. As Geon ran, the heavy wind from the cold dark night whipping against his face, and he wondered if this would be his final moment on the planet.

I refuse to get caught or die today.

Sabien was sprinting next to him and he could hear the voice of someone behind them yelling at them to stop. There was no stopping now.

Don’t think, Geon. Don’t stop. Just JUMP!

He coiled his body and with one last long stride, tapped the button on his chest, and hurled himself off the roof and into the urban abyss below.

Chapter 19

Falling. Falling. Oh my God, I’m falling.

As Geon flew off the ledge, he realized that the zeppwings hadn’t activated.

I’m going to die.

Flailing around and falling rapidly now, he smacked the button repeatedly until finally, something sprung open on his back and spread apart.

Wings!

Geon righted his body and was jerked upward as the wind caught the bottom of the wings. He looked to each side and saw that the wings were made of some sort of very thin shiny material and that they were also spread out between his legs. He stretched his arms and legs out and instantly felt the sense of control.

“Wooooooooooohooooooooooooooooo!” he cried out as his maneuvered through the air, weaving in between the dilapidated towering buildings.

I’m flying.

Trying to get the hang of it, he rocked his body gently to one side and to the other, as he sped down toward the city ground, seeing the magnitude of urban destruction from a different angle than ever before. Sabien was ahead of him and below him already, so he tried his best to stay on the same course as him.

He realized only then that Kumuki was screaming loudly the entire time. Looking up, he could see that Allea had activated the other button on Kumuki’s suit to deploy the zepp, a small silver balloon that was very slowly bringing him down toward the ground, and though it seemed to be a slow gentle ride, he was shrieking maniacally the entire way down. Allea and Aurora were close to Kumuki, holding on to each other face to face as Allea’s own zepp brought them both down together.

This is incredible.
The pressure from the wind stung his face and skin.
It’s like JetSurf, but faster… more fluid.

He laughed to himself at the sheer joy of this new sensation, turning one way toward a building and then turning away from it at just the last moment. The feeling was exhilarating, like falling, but with a fragment of control, just enough to give the sensation of danger but with the constraints of a controlled flight.

As he plunged closer to the ground, he watched Sabien deploy his zepp and followed with his own seconds later. As soon as the balloon was released, the wings folded back in and his body was yanked backward to a slow gradual descent. The entire flight was over in only a matter of seconds, but it felt like a lifetime.

I’ll never forget this.

He bent his knees and hit the ground feet from Sabien. Seconds later, the others landed and Allea ran up to him and grabbed him in a tight embrace, hitting the button on his chest, which deflated and drew in the balloon.

“G, I’m so glad you’re okay!”

Sabien walked up and gave him a back-five. “Mythic ride, eh, G?”

“Legendary,” Geon replied with a smile.

“It was scary!”

“Indeed,” Aurora said, looking at Kumuki with a smile.

“Guys, I know you want to reminisce, but we need to run NOW!” Allea said. “They’ll be coming for us.”

“You’re right, Ally. Let’s go!”

They took off, running along the shadows of the buildings until they finally reached the rocky shore where they docked the boat. They leaped in one by one and accelerated away from Zone One and back toward Enkia.

It wasn’t until they knew for sure they were in the clear, and they knew no one was following them, when they turned toward each other and bellowed in exuberance from their accomplishment.

“I can’t believe it,” Geon said, shaking his head in euphoria. “We did it. We really did it. You guys were amazing! Aurora, you got us here… and Ally, you planned everything perfectly… and Kumuki, you found the hidden scanner… and Sabe, you gave us the courage to keep going!”

“G, don’t forget your contribution,” Allea said, grabbing his arm and inspecting it more closely. “I can’t believe that you did this to yourself. This will take some serious repair to fix. It’s strange, there seems to be another port here within the limb… interesting. Does it hurt?”

Geon looked down at his arm, the skin shredded off of it and the raw alloy exposed.

It does hurt
.
But not enough to stop me from doing what needed to be done.

“It’s okay,” he said modestly. “I had to contribute…
somehow
.”